Ditch drainage a lingering issue

Ownership of ditches, responsibility to maintain them are analyzed in legal expert's recent report

October 24, 2013|By Matt Sabo, msabo@dailypress.com | 757-247-7872

GLOUCESTER — A wet spring and summer was marked not just by ample precipitation, but ditches that filled with water became homes for stagnant water that proved to be the right breeding ground for blooms of algae, spawning mosquitoes and collecting trash.

It's been a continual problem in low-lying areas of Gloucester and Mathews, with residents finding little relief from ditches that don't drain.

It has prompted complaints from residents to county officials and Virginia Department of Transportation employees. A candidate for public office in Mathews has ditches as a tenet of his platform..

George Charles "GC" Morrow, of Onemo, is running for the Mathews Board of Supervisors as a write-in candidate and calls the ditches a "growing crisis." He said he has walked about 90 percent of the ditches in the county.

"Mathews isn't sinking, the tides aren't rising, the land is simply being flooded by system-wide ditch maintenance failure," Morrow said. "It isn't just the roadside ditches, but the intricate web of outfall ditches designed to crisscross the county to drain the various waterways."

Morrow said not maintaining the ditches results in lowered property values, contributes to roadbed failure and incurs the new and misdiagnosed designations of "wetlands" that limit development.

Gloucester Supervisor Carter Borden, who represents the York District that includes many low-lying areas afflicted with full ditches, said at a recent Board of Supervisors meeting the issue has dogged him for the four years he has been in office.

"I've tried for four years and can't get anything done," Borden said.

In an attempt to help solve the problems with ditches that don't drain, the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission hired this year a Richmond attorney who is an expert in state road rights of way, easements and ditches to investigate ownership of roadside ditches — and on whom the responsibility falls to maintain them.

John S. Morris III has previously consulted the MPPDC on other road and rights-of-way issues, said Lewie Lawrence, the commission's executive director. Morris was retained because the ditches issue is constantly in front of the boards of supervisors in the Middle Peninsula, Lawrence told the Gloucester Board of Supervisors.

The issue is the water isn't moving through the roadside ditches and private ditching system, he said.

Morris researched four issues revolving around roadside ditches:

•The general rule of law regarding the flow of water;

•The collection and distribution of water;

•The responsibility for maintenance of ditches and the legal liabilities in regard to their maintenance;

•The responsibilities for excessive collection or flow of water.

Morris specifically looked at four ditches in Gloucester, including two on Guinea Circle, one on Maryus Road and one on Brays Point Road. The problem in many ditches is that the drainages are on private property outside the purview of VDOT or the county, so digging them deeper won't resolve the drainage problem if the courses on private property won't drain, Lawrence said.

Borden said he was very upset by the study and disagrees that VDOT doesn't have a responsibility to ensure the ditches drain. Even though the drainages may be on private land, the water backs up and becomes a hazard on public roads, Borden said.

"It's a safety hazard," he said.

Lawrence said Borden had a valid point and would take the question of responsibility for safety back to VDOT.

Supervisor Bob "JJ" Orth said it is a frustrating issue.

"Someone has to take the responsibility but no one wants to step up to the plate," Orth said.

The Gloucester Board of Supervisors unanimously approved instructing county staff to draft a letter to Del. Keith Hodges to try and get the issue resolved.

Sabo can be reached at 757-503-1459.

Dammed up ditches

Although ditches along roads don't drain, many of them are outside VDOT ownership and the outfall drainages may be on private property. That absolves VDOT of ensuring the ditches drain, according to an attorney's opinion.